AN: I know it has been a while... but I hope you guys like this chapter! We get a little bit of action in this one.

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." –Oscar Wilde

Chapter 9

Rossi steps forward and clears his throat. Dean quickly wipes away his tears and tries to slip his mask back into place. Rossi gives him a shred of dignity by pretending he doesn't see.

"We've been looking into some things and Agent Morgan has some questions for you." Rossi says.

Dean nods and stands, Sam following suit. They go back to the room they were in before and sit down, but this time its Agent Morgan sitting across from them and not Agent Reid.

"Let me guess, the doc was the good cop and you're the bad cop." Dean says halfheartedly as he sits down.

Morgan furrows his brow as he watches Dean sit down. His face is wet and Morgan wonders if he's been crying, but doesn't mention it.

"No Dean. I'm not the bad cop. And actually I'm usually the good cop." Morgan jokes lightly, smiling a little. "I just want to ask you some questions."

"Sure you do." Dean says quietly.

He looks worn and tired, and frankly Morgan's a little worried about him. If he had witnessed even half of the things these brothers allegedly have, he thinks he'd have lost his sanity a long time ago.

Morgan takes a deep breath and then begins his line of questioning starting with some of the more outlandish events.

"Dean…did you really go to Hell?" He asks gently.

Dean stares at him for a minute as if deciding whether he has the energy to lie or not, but eventually he just says the truth.

"Yes."

Morgan usually would have thought that someone was lying or delusional if they said such a thing, but he is starting to doubt his own perspective on reality. He simply nods than moves on to a question for Sam.

"Sam, did you really allow Lucifer to possess you?"

Sam looks away in shame, but still answers.

"Yeah, I did."

"And you freed Lucifer from his cage?"

Before he can answer Dean interrupts.

"Hey! This is about me. Not Sammy." Dean says angrily, protecting his little brother from where this line of questioning is sure to go.

Dean's leaning forward, a threatening set to his shoulders, and Morgan has to admit he feels a little intimidated. Even though this situation isn't strictly about Dean, Morgan can sense that he is treading in dangerous waters by questioning Sam. It is probably best to keep them both calm until he can gain their trust and perhaps get some more answers out of them.

"Okay," he placates, "then Dean, have you really time traveled?"

Dean, appreciating the shift in topic, smirks; his anger gone as fast as it had come, even if the smile is forced.

"Yeah I have. And I have to say our mom was hot."

Sam looks at Dean with an expression that seems to say 'did you seriously just go there'.

"What? It's true. Don't tell me you didn't notice."

Sam takes a moment to think about it; then shrugs.

"I guess you could say that. I was more focused on not letting our parents get murdered by a brainwashed angel."

"Eh... True."

"Brainwashed angel?" Rossi asks, entering the conversation for the first time and having trouble wrapping his head around what they are talking about.

"Yeah." Dean says, not missing a beat. "Her name was Anna. She was actually a fallen angel when we first met her…"

"And then we helped her get her Grace back." Sam interjects.

"And then she was on 'Team Freewill' during the apocalypse until she was brainwashed into trying to kill us." Dean continues.

"And what better way to get rid of us then to make sure we were never even born to begin with by killing our parents?" Sam finishes.

There is a brief pause.

"Wow, I didn't realize just how crazy that actually sounds until we said it out loud." Dean says to the room at large.

"You could say that." Rossi says dryly, but doesn't comment anymore because their answer seems not to surprise Morgan; in fact he smirks.

"You should see the rest of the list, Rossi. Some of these accounts read like B movies."

Rossi just raises a curious brow.

Morgan furrows his brow, realizing something important in what the boys just said.

"Grace." He says. "You said something about Grace just now."

Morgan looks at the brothers before him. They seem a little surprised that he's asking them about Grace.

"You said something about getting Anna's Grace back, right?"

Dean looks at Sam as if he's about to ask his opinion, but instead of speaking they seem to have a conversation entirely with their eyes and other nonverbal communication that has clearly been perfected through years of practice. Eventually Sam speaks.

"Yes, we did help Anna get her Grace back, but we're not really experts on the subject. If you want to know more you should ask Cas about it; not that he'll probably tell you anything. It's kind of a sensitive angel thing."

Morgan makes a quick mental note to ask the 'angel' about it later. He still isn't sure if he can bring himself to fully believe the Winchester's story, but it's becoming significantly harder not to. There are just so many unanswered questions and the answers that he is getting just aren't making sense unless all of this supernatural stuff is real, and that what the Winchesters are claiming, is true. Did he mention he is seriously starting to doubt his own perspective on reality?

"Is Castiel really an angel?" he asks, more to satisfy some of his own curiosity than anything else.

"Yes." Dean snaps impatiently; standing abruptly.

Rossi shifts uncomfortably at the sudden movement, but Morgan doesn't even flinch. Dean runs a hand through his hair in agitation and looks around the room for a moment before he moves to pace near the back wall of the room where there is clear space to do so. He doesn't say anything and he doesn't meet anyone's eyes as he moves back and forth like a caged animal. The only thing he does is grasp his hand over the Mark. He rubs at it or around it like it hurts, his fingers digging into his flesh. Sam follows his brother with his eyes for a moment, a look of concern on his face before he turns back to Morgan and Rossi. Rossi is watching Dean intently, but Morgan gives Sam his attention as the younger Winchester speaks.

"Cas has been through a lot recently…we all have. And it doesn't exactly help that we can't seem to catch a break on anything."

Sam runs a weary hand through his hair, seeming to pick up on his brother's agitated energy.

"Being arrested probably didn't help." Morgan says sympathetically, but with a bit of a smile.

"At least we don't have anything supernatural gunning for us." Sam returns with a wry smile.

Dean stops in his pacing to stare at his brother a moment.

"You know that something's goanna happen now, just because you said that. The other shoe always drops, always." He says angrily.

Sam cringes. "That does seem to be how it works…"

As if on cue the lights flicker and then go out. Everyone is on their feet instantly and to the surprise of the BAU agents the Winchesters pull out salt shakers from their jumpsuits and flank the agents as if to protect them.

"What's going on?" Rossi calls to the guard stationed outside the door.

The guard doesn't respond and there is an earie silence that seeps into the room; the stillness putting everyone on edge.

"Hello boys."

Everyone jumps at the deep voice and they whip around, Sam and Dean stepping forward and placing themselves between the agents and the impeccably dressed new arrival.

"Crowley?" Dean snaps in obvious annoyance. "I should throw this in your face on principle!" he says, gesturing with the salt shaker.

"Is that the thanks I get for organizing a prison break?"

"Who asked you?" Dean snarls, stepping towards the shorter man.

Crowley simply lifts his chin defiantly and puts his hands in the pockets of his black suit pants.

Sam lets out a sigh.

"Look. Crowley, if we wanted to leave, we would be long gone by now," Sam says in a reasonable voice.

Rossi narrows his eyes at this comment, but remains silent, unsure of the possible threat before them.

"So why are you really here?"

"Well, Moose," he starts, getting an annoyed frown from the taller Winchester, "Being the King of Hell is, well… hell. I decided to escape my nagging and incompetent minions for an hour or so and, lo and behold, I discover Moose and Squirrel have found themselves in a bit of a bind again. And here I thought I'd have a bit of fun."

"Well you thought wrong." Dean says firmly, an underlying anger in his tone seething right below the surface.

His hands are shaking and it is becoming clear that he is barley restraining himself from attacking Crowley, but Crowley doesn't seem to notice as he addresses the older Winchester.

"Apparently. But how was I supposed to know? You never call, you never write..."

That's the moment Dean completely loses control, throwing himself at the shorter man with a shout. Before he reaches him though, Crowley disappears and then reappears behind the agents, causing Dean to slam into the wall. Dean rights himself quickly and with a growl turns to try again, only this time there are people between him and his target. For a heart stopping moment Morgan fears that the older Winchester might just go through them to get to his prey, but Sam steps towards his brother with a placating hand raised.

"Dean." He says firmly.

The shorter Winchester's eyes snap to his brother, a feral look still on his face and his chest heaving in rage.

"Dean, you need to calm down. You need to fight it!"

The older brother's eyes flick to Crowley again, but Sam quickly gets his attention back.

"Hey! Look at me. Focus on me."

He does for a moment before he closes his eyes and clutches at his arm as if he's in pain. He stumbles backwards and Sam darts forward to steady him, clutching his brother by the elbows.

"Interesting…" Crowley muses from the other side of the room.

"Crowley, shut up or I swear I'll…" Sam threatens, staring him down over his shoulder.

Crowley just holds his hands up innocently.

"This is getting boring anyways." He says and then vanishes into thin air.

Sam glares at where Crowley disappeared from, grinding his teeth together in frustration, before turning back to his brother. Dean is shakily trying to get his breathing back to normal. He still has his eyes clamped shut and his fingers are digging so hard into his forearm that it is sure to leave finger shaped bruises. After a moment the elder Winchester pulls away, clears his throat, and unsteadily stands up straight, still clutching his arm.

It's Rossi who finally breaks the silence.

"What the hell was that?"

Sam takes a deep breath before he answers.

"That, was the king of Hell."

Rossi has an incredulous look on his face, but Morgan, having taken part in the extensive research the day before, comes to a realization.

"He was a demon?" Morgan asks.

Sam nods.

"Yeah."

"Then you seem to be on awfully good terms with a demon." Rossi says, not sure if he's just going along with it or if he's actually starting to believe this stuff.

"It's more like mutual manipulation. We use him, he screws us over after claiming to be helping…you get the idea. But as they say 'better the devil you know.'" Dean explains in a surprisingly even voice.

"I'd take Crowley over Lucifer any day." Sam says, glancing at his brother meaningfully.

Dean frowns and nods his head almost imperceptibly.

The truth of that sentence hangs heavily in the air.

AN: No worries! I do have future plans for this story! I just need to find the time to get them from my head to my computer... Until next time!

~Sari Dark